Unearthed emails as part of a FOIA request show Biden administration agencies scrapping a plan to visit a vessel at an event because it would have required then-President Joe Biden to take too many steps.
Records show, as part of a FOIA request by Protect the Public’s Trust obtained by Fox News Digital, that Biden was set to visit a National Security Multi-Mission Vessel (NSMV) while touring a Philadelphia shipyard in July 2023.
However, according to the emails, that visit to the vessel was scrapped because of ‘how many steps were involved to get on the ship.’
The emails show that the U.S. Maritime Administration (MARAD) was engaged in a major project at the Philadelphia shipyard at the time that Biden was planning to visit to tout offshore wind and clean energy jobs.
A MARAD official emailed members of the Office of Secure Transportation, with the Department of Transportation cc’d, on July 17, 2023, that said, ‘No visit to the NSMV vessel is planned after the WH realized how many steps were involved to get on the ship. {True – lots of steps on grating}.’
The email exchanges also show a lack of coordination between the White House and MARAD, an agency of the DOT, as the next day an email between DOT officials said, ‘MARAD hasn’t had anyone reach out to them from WH. All info they have received has been from Philly shipyard. S2 team reached out to WH Advance, and that is how we confirmed the visit was scheduled. Nothing else heard and no further call made or received on this event that I am aware of.’
The decision to skip visiting the vessel in the shipyard came a little more than a month after Biden faced questions over his mental and physical sharpness when he stumbled and fell on stage at an Air Force Academy graduation ceremony in Colorado Springs, Colorado, on June 1, 2023.
The White House said at the time that the president tripped over a sandbag and that he was not injured by the fall.
Around the same time, White House officials were rejecting concerns from conservatives about Biden’s health and insisting he was able to perform his duties at a high level.
Roughly a week after the event in Philadelphia, then-White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre bristled at a question about Biden’s age and whether the White House could assure people there was nothing to be concerned about by outlining the president’s accomplishments.
‘Look, we’ve been asked this question multiple times,’ Jean-Pierre said. ‘And you have a president who — I just went through his Unity Agenda — what we’ve been able to do in a bipartisan way as it relates to issues that really matter to the American people — right? — the Cancer Moonshot, which is actually going to make a difference with people and family — fam- — Americans who have family members dealing with cancer. That is something that this president has been able to do.’
Fox News Digital reached out to Biden’s office and the Philadelphia shipyard for comment.
‘There’s an awful lot wrong here, beginning with the White House planning a presidential visit to one of the most important shipyards in the nation without bothering to give a heads-up to the Department of Transportation, which has major ongoing projects there,’ Protect the Public’s Trust Director Michael Chamberlain told Fox News Digital.
‘That’s amateurish. Second and far more critical, the president’s staff was proscribing events he couldn’t physically handle more than a year before he dropped out of the re-election race, all while lambasting anyone who claimed he wasn’t fit enough to complete the Ironman Competition. I realize there’s an elevator down to the White House Situation Room, but most voters would like to think they’re pulling the lever for a president who could take the stairs in an emergency.’
A former Biden aide pushed back on that narrative, saying that it is ‘ironic that an organization called ‘Protect the Public Trust’ is more interested in how many steps the former president took than the current president’s cost-raising agenda and close relationship with Jeffrey Epstein.’
‘The group is presenting a deceptive story with this ‘don’t look at Epstein’ bait based on a single email with no context and they know it.’
A former Biden administration official reached by Fox News Digital referenced the massive size of the shipyard and that the size would be considered when planning events like this, adding that the email references steps and not stairs specifically.
The former official also pushed back on the person sending the email not having spoken directly with someone at the White House and explained that several teams are involved in arranging events like the one at the shipyard, considering accessibility, security risks, visuals and other factors.